If Inter Miami will transition from glamor expansion club to genuine MLS Cup contenders – as the bookmakers suspect – the catalyst was clear within 10 minutes of Florida’s derby against Orlando City.
It wasn’t Leo Messi’s magic that gave the home side an early two-nil lead, but two instinctive, clinical finishes from his former Barcelona teammate Luis Suárez.
As Messi continues to deliver glamor and global stardom to Inter and the MLS – his brilliance attracting spiders from delighted fans across the country – perhaps it will be Suárez who does the most to deliver the silverware club co-owner David Beckham craves , and this expensive composite project requirements.
This match finished 5–0 – a record winning margin in this emerging rivalry and the biggest win in club history – with Suárez scoring two goals, adding two assists and playing a key role in all five goals. The performance made Suárez known to Inter Miami fans after some criticism early in the season.
“I am very happy for him (Suárez), that he was able to score. We were still calm, we know what Luis is and what he is capable of and everyone knows it,” Messi told Apple TV in Spanish. “He is like that, when you least expect it, he solves a game for you like he did today, with the goals and the assists.”
Just three minutes into his second home start in MLS, Suárez swept the ball home for the first time after a Julian Gressel pull-back for his first goal in Inter Miami’s pink. After 10 minutes, a neat one-two with the same player produced a second for Suárez, who, after neat footwork, drilled the ball into the bottom corner to wrangle a bouncing ball.
After half an hour, Suárez selflessly rejected the chance for a hat-trick, but laid the ball aside for Robert Taylor to roll into an empty net.
“The third goal shows who he is, where he squares the ball even though he is in the middle of a hat-trick. That shows what he is for this team,” said teammate Gressel after the game.
That hat-trick goal may have followed just before half-time, but the assistant’s flag intervened after Suarez rounded the keeper and headed home.
Those Miami fans – the majority of whom carried Messi 10, not Suárez 9, over their shoulders – were treated to the full Suárez experience during those explosive first outings.
There were wild and expressive protests from the referees after some stiff challenges from a petrified backline in Orlando. That dramatic strike was quickly (and suspiciously) put aside as he came alive to convert those early chances.
And of course, the 37-year-old was escorted off the field by teammates at halftime after an altercation involving the same assistant referee and the Orlando bench. Provided ‘Bad Suárez’ does not come to the fore too much, the first half typifies why he is perhaps Inter’s most important asset from a field perspective. Because the winning mentality has not diminished.
A terribly kept secret, Saurez arrived in the off-season from Brazilian club Gremio, where he led the club to a historic season, scoring 24 goals and recording 17 assists. Gremio narrowly missed out on a first Serie A title since 1996, losing to Palmeiras by just two points.
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But his transformative effect was clear, just as it was at Liverpool more than a decade ago. Suárez found the net 31 times in the Premier League as Brendan Rodgers’ unpredictable side came heartbreakingly close to ending Liverpool’s already epic title drought in 2014; before his successor Jürgen Klopp’s team finally did so in 2020.
At Barcelona, surrounded by similar talents, Suárez did not need the same talismanic performances, although Barca fans learned all about it when a spurned Suárez delivered the title for Atletico Madrid with 21 goals in 2020/2021.
However, it was the old Nou Camp trio of Suárez, Jordi Alba and Messi who combined for a fourth goal for Inter early in the second half.
Suárez’s one-two with a rising Alba saw Orlando defender Robin Jansson crash the ball against the crossbar in a desperate attempt to clear the fullback’s goal shot. Messi scrambled home the rebound. Minutes later, Suárez put a left-wing cross onto the head of an unmarked Messi for the fifth.
Suárez, who said Inter Miami will be his last stop before retirement, was withdrawn after 67 minutes to a standing ovation.
While Messi’s arrival was undeniably a harbinger of everything that has transformed Inter Miami from MLS to the league’s most indispensable team, it is likely the final bullets in El Pistolero’s career that will be absolutely necessary if the club is to face the immediate wants to complete its transition to the championship. the team is built to perform.
“I hope the Miami fans are so happy,” Suárez said with a wink after the match.